The Longest Nights
by Seth Bramwell
Summary: A short story exploring a sleepless night with Jessie and James. I wrote asequel which I'll post if this one goes over well. Please R/R if you can. Thanks!


Disclaimer: All Pokemon characters are copyrighted by Nintendo. No permission has   
been given to use their names. The song lyrics are an excerpt from the song "Brooklyn   
Kids" and are copyrighted by Pete Townshend. No permission has been given to use the   
lyrics.  
  
THE LONGEST NIGHTS  
  
By Allan North  
  
The young man tossed in bed again. For what felt like the hundredth time, he   
looked at the digital clock on his bedside table. 3:00 AM. Sigh. He sat up in bed,   
realizing that this would be yet another sleepless night. Tossing the covers aside, he   
walked to the light switch and flipped it on. His eyes flinched for a second as they   
adjusted to the light. Walking across the room back to his bed, the young man kicked the   
white uniform on the floor. It flipped over and landed right side up, revealing a large red   
"R".  
  
James sat down on his bed and ran his fingers through his blue hair, flinching as   
his fingers hit a large sore bump on the back of his head. James looked over at his bedside   
table where a picture sat in a frame next to his clock. So few pictures he had were even   
worthy of a frame; just one of him as a child with his pet Growlie, and this one... of him   
and his partner Jessie. How beautiful she was... and special. Never had he seen anyone   
quite like her. Her long red hair, her perfect figure and skin, her beautiful face... He   
smiled to himself as he stared at the picture, despite the awareness that it was Jessie who   
was responsible for the painful bump on his head, the result of one of her trademark   
mallet attacks.  
  
Of course, he understood her frustration with him... More often than not, it was   
fully justified. But what he couldn't understand was why fate had been so cruel as to   
make her despise him so... Sadly, he shook his head.  
  
A single tear formed in the corner of his eye as he laid down on his bed again, not   
bothering to turn out the light.   
  
It would be another long night....  
  
Across the hall....  
  
Angrily, the young woman sat up and punched her pillow. Why couldn't she get   
any sleep lately? The last few days, all she could do was toss and turn. It made her   
cranky and irritable during the day, but she seemed to be powerless to do anything about   
it.. Finally, deciding to just quit trying, she just got up and turned on the light. She   
looked at the clock on her bedside table. 3:01 AM.  
  
She went to her bathroom and got a drink of water from the sink, looking tiredly   
into the mirror as she did. She looked a mess. Her red hair, usually styled into her   
trademark 'do, hung down crushed out of place by her tossing and turning. Jessie   
scoffed at the image in the mirror, and walked back to the bed. She stubbed her toe on   
her boots as she did, and angrily kicked them out of the way.   
  
Jessie plopped down on the bed and thought about what she had just done. It was   
her damn temper again. Why did she fly off the handle so easily? She knew all too well   
the price of her temper from the past. It had cost her friends, relationships, and more...   
And now, she felt she was in danger of it happening again. She stared at the wall,   
plastered with pictures of her partner, James. He was so beautiful, so strong, so perfect.   
She had loved him for so long... ever since shortly after they had met... in her own way.   
Of course, she had never found the way to tell him... Her temper had made sure of that.   
Perhaps someday, he would learn the truth, and realize what was real in her heart.   
But how could he love such a person, so cold and cruel? Jessie laid down and stared at   
the ceiling.   
  
God, why was she the way she was? So full of rage, sarcasm, and.... love?   
Could that even be true? Well, unrequited love, but love none the less.   
Again, as she had done the previous nights, Jessie sat up and shook her head   
violently to clear it. Maybe some day she would sort out her emotions... but would it be   
too late when she finally did?  
  
A tear fell down her cheek as she fell back on her pillow, knowing that it would be   
yet another long night.   
  
At 3:15 AM, two separate radios in two separate rooms were turned on at almost   
the same time on the same station. The young man and woman who had turned them on   
laid down and let the music wash over them, a slow, haunting melody;   
  
"And they're both just a mile apart,   
just streets away from a kindred heart.   
But there might as well....   
be an ocean...   
between them."  
  
The End  



End file.
